France is ready for action to end the blockades of the port of Odessa. Poland wants to expand grain transport from Ukraine. Meanwhile, Selenskjy is pushing for speed in Ukraine’s EU process. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
9:09 a.m .: China has confirmed its officially neutral position in the Ukraine war. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe told a security conference in Singapore on Sunday that his country had never provided any kind of material support to Russia in connection with the Ukraine crisis. Beijing supports “peace talks” between the warring factions and hopes that “NATO will hold talks with Russia,” Wei added.
Beijing has so far neither openly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine nor declared its support for Russia’s military offensive. Western officials have repeatedly warned China not to give any support to Russia’s attack on the neighboring country. Economically, Russia and China have moved ever closer together in recent years.
Sunday, June 12, 7:13 a.m .: Several “Marder” infantry fighting vehicles from the manufacturer Rheinmetall that have been decommissioned by the Bundeswehr but are currently being modernized are ready for use and could be delivered to Ukraine immediately. “We are in the process of repairing 100 Marder armored personnel carriers, the first vehicles are already ready,” said Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, to “Bild am Sonntag”. According to dpa, six tanks are already “ready.”
“When and where the Marders are to be delivered is the decision of the federal government.” 88 Leopard 1 tanks and other Leopard 2 tanks are also in the depot for modernization.
According to Pappberger’s assessment, the Marder is still a powerful combat vehicle and is also used by the German armed forces – for example in Lithuania. “We have also repeatedly modernized the Marder over the years.”
For the modernized “Marder”, the focus is on the safety of the soldiers – they have to be able to rely on the vehicle, especially in critical situations. “In particular, we check all components that are necessary for the marten to be able to drive and shoot reliably,” says the Rheinmetall boss.
Due to the high demand for military equipment, Rheinmetall wants to increase capacities. “We are expecting a significant increase in sales of up to 20 percent per year and are now in the process of increasing our capacities,” explains Pappberger. “We will be going into multi-shift operation at some locations. We can at least triple the production of ammunition within the next twelve months, and that of trucks can be doubled – because we can reactivate a lot of infrastructure from the Cold War very quickly.”
In order to be able to cope with the increased demand, the group intends to hire 2,500 new employees (current number of employees: 25,000). Rheinmetall receives 145,000 unsolicited applications a year, 64,000 of them from Germany.
8:01 p.m .: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to travel to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv together with French President Emanuel Macron and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi. The visit is scheduled to take place before the G7 summit at the end of June. This is reported by the “Bild am Sonntag” with reference to Ukrainian and French government circles.
Accordingly, Paris and Berlin are said to have been negotiating a joint visit to Kyiv for some time. However, Macron is said to have expressed the will to travel only after the French parliamentary elections. Taking the Italian head of government as the third party in the group is said to have been an idea from France. Scholz, Macron and Draghi wanted to set a sign of European unity with their trip.
In the past, Scholz had repeatedly been criticized for being one of the few top European politicians not to have traveled to Kyiv. “It can’t just be a photo shoot,” Scholz said on RTL television in mid-March. “I will not join a group of people who do something for a quick in-and-out with a photo op.” Several members of his own cabinet have meanwhile visited Ukraine, including Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens).
3:55 p.m .: The family of a British man sentenced to death by pro-Russian separatists was shocked by the verdict in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. The British Foreign Office said on Saturday on behalf of the relatives that the entire family of the 48-year-old was “devastated and saddened by the outcome of the illegal show trial by the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic”.
As a Ukrainian resident and a contract marine, he should be granted all the rights of a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention, the PA news agency said in the statement. This also includes fully independent legal representation.
The Supreme Court of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Thursday sentenced to death three foreign fighters in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces as mercenaries. Among them were two Britons and one Moroccan. The two Britons were captured by pro-Russian forces in mid-April in the southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol. According to media reports, both had lived in Ukraine before the war and also married there.
1:33 p.m .: The CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen raises serious allegations against Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) because of his behavior in relation to the Ukraine war. Overall, Scholz’s actions were aimed at “not doing anything that would seriously damage his ability to talk to Putin. And I think that’s a serious mistake,” said Röttgen of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” on Saturday.
“It is tragic that now, in the most difficult and costly weeks for Ukraine, nothing can be expected from the federal government in terms of weapons that it needs right now,” Röttgen continued Artillery weapons are missing.”
The CDU politician also sharply condemned the fact that Scholz repeatedly telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin. “After Putin’s ongoing and clear intention to go to war, such phone calls are not only superfluous but harmful,” he said. The talks “repeatedly gave the false impression that there is a basis for reaching an agreement with Putin.”
The mistake in Germany’s Russia policy for years was “that we were guided by wishful thinking and not by reality,” added Röttgen. “That should end now, once and for all.”
12:37 p.m .: Poland has accused the federal government of a lack of commitment to the promised delivery of tanks. “The talks have stalled. You don’t see any good will, let’s hope that changes,” said the head of the National Security Office under the President, Pavel Soloch, on Saturday on radio station Rmf.fm. The defense ministries are in contact.
Berlin had asked for tanks to be used to replace tanks that Poland had given to Ukraine, Soloch said. “German military aid – be it to Ukraine or be it support of countries that provide this aid – falls short of expectations.”
Poland supports its neighbor with Soviet T-72 tanks. Warsaw has already made it clear that it expects compensation from NATO partners, including Germany. A large part of the tank arsenal in the Polish Armed Forces consists of German Leopard tanks.
10.36 a.m .: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on Ukraine’s application for EU membership. Among other things, the top German politician wanted to discuss open points in the application for admission with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The EU Commission is expected to publish its assessment next Friday on whether Ukraine should be granted candidate status for EU membership.
9:06 a.m .: According to US President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ignored warnings of a Russian invasion shortly before the start of the war. There was “no doubt” that Russia would “cross the border,” Biden said at an event in Los Angeles on Friday. “Zelenskyj didn’t want to hear that, and neither did many others.”
“I know a lot of people thought I was exaggerating,” he said, referring to US warnings of a possible Russian attack. However, the US government had data to support its assessment.
The United States had warned against taking such a step long before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. At the time, the statements were met with disbelief and even criticism from some European countries. Some countries accused Washington of alarmism.
7.40 a.m .: The FDP wants to work in the governing coalition for a quick and direct delivery of Marder armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. The federal government should give the Ukrainians more support for the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, said the deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Alexander Graf Lambsdorff of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Saturday edition). “We as the FDP also say that Germany can and should do more,” added the foreign politician. “We hope that we can reach a consensus on this in the federal government.”
Lambsdorff emphasized that the Marder is an armored personnel carrier and not a battle tank. “They are ready in the yard, they could be prepared and delivered,” he added. “As the FDP, we are of the opinion that this should also happen.”
Lambsdorff was more reluctant to deliver the Leopard I tanks that Ukraine also wanted. “With the Leopard, we’ll see what the allies are doing,” said the FDP parliamentary group leader. “There are no French, British, Italian or American main battle tanks in Ukraine. In this respect there is also no German Leopard tank.”
This will not change with the planned delivery of the Panzerhaubitze 2000 either. “Howitzers are not battlefield weapons and should therefore not be confused with main battle tanks that can carry out direct battles,” stressed Lambsdorff.
7:31 a.m .: Clinics in Germany have so far taken in more than 200 sick and injured people from Ukraine using the so-called cloverleaf concept. “Of a total of 620 requests for assistance at European level, Germany has already taken on 220 patients for treatment as part of this procedure,” said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health to the editorial network Germany (Saturday): “More than 50 further patient takeovers will soon – partly delayed due to the war – be completed be.”
It went on to say: “Of the 220 patients taken over, 52 were taken to the south cloverleaf, 50 to the north cloverleaf, 44 to the east cloverleaf, 39 to the west cloverleaf and 35 to the southwest cloverleaf.”
7:18 a.m .: According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is having an effect as far as the Indo-Pacific. “Therefore, countries across the region have been quick to roll out humanitarian assistance to the suffering people of Ukraine, including vital contributions from Singapore, Thailand, India and Vietnam,” Austin said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows what happens “when oppressors trample on the rules that protect us all” and “when great powers decide their imperial desires are more important than the rights of their peaceful neighbors,” Austin warned.
In order to avoid a future “world of chaos and unrest” “in which none of us would want to live”, the international community must come together. “Let’s use this moment to strengthen the rules-based international order,” the US Secretary of Defense called on his audience.
The security conference for the Asia-Pacific region, the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, is named after the luxury hotel of the same name where it takes place. It meets from Friday to Sunday.
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